


Harry Potter and the Life Returned

by thequidditchpitch_archivist



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Book 7: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Drabble, Ficlet, Post-War
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2008-04-08
Updated: 2008-04-08
Packaged: 2018-10-26 12:42:28
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 544
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10786965
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thequidditchpitch_archivist/pseuds/thequidditchpitch_archivist
Summary: Voldemort is dead, but what happens to Harry in the hours immediately following the Battle of Hogwarts?





	Harry Potter and the Life Returned

**Author's Note:**

> Note from Annie, the archivist: this story was originally archived at [The Quidditch Pitch](http://fanlore.org/wiki/The_Quidditch_Pitch), which went offline in 2015 when the hosting expired, at a time I was not able to renew it. I contacted Open Doors, hoping to preserve the archive using an old backup, and began importing these works as an Open Doors-approved project in April 2017. Open Doors e-mailed all authors about the move and posted announcements, but may not have reached everyone. If you are (or know) this creator, please contact us using the e-mail address on [The Quidditch Pitch collection profile](http://archiveofourown.org/collections/thequidditchpitch/profile).

 

 

            After devouring the sandwiches and pumpkin juice Kreacher brought him, Harry fell in exhaustion across his old bed, not bothering to remove his shoes and glasses.  He vaguely wondered what the boy who now slept there would think when he found the bed occupied, but he was too tired to worry about it.  Sleep overtook him almost at once, thick and dark and heavy.  He dreamed in snatches; seeing himself lying dead in the woods, Dumbledore smiling at him from the vast white space that looked like Kings Cross, feeling the grass under his fingertips as Narcissa Malfoy bent over him, her long hair brushing his face.  He saw the Great Hall, the burst of sunlight, Voldemort’s wand spinning in the air.  

            Then he was awake, it seemed, for it was night and the lamp beside his bed was lit.  Someone was removing his glasses and shoes, and drawing the sheet up over him.  Soft hair brushed his face and he smelled a familiar flowery scent that made his lips curve in a smile.

            “Ginny,” he whispered, opening his eyes and seeing her smiling face.

            She leaned down and brushed her lips against his.  

            “I love you,” she whispered.

            “Love you too.  Wanna get up,” he mumbled, pulling the sheet aside, but she gently pushed him down and covered him again.

            “You need to sleep some more,” she said softly, her breath tickling his ear, “I’m going home now, but I’ll be waiting for you.  Now close your eyes.”   

He obeyed, and she kissed him again.  Then he heard heavy footsteps, followed by lighter ones, come up to his bed.

            “Is he awake?” Ron whispered loudly.

            “Yes, but he’s too tired to get up.  I told him we’re leaving.”

            “Harry?” 

            Ron’s voice came closer.  Harry smiled but did not open his eyes.

            “We’re taking Fred home, mate.  You come home too as soon as you finish your beauty sleep.”

            Home.  The Burrow.  Thoughts of the only real family he’d ever known spilled across his sleep-fogged brain and he felt tears prickle against his eyelids.  

            “We’ll see you soon, Harry.”  

            That was Hermione’s gentle voice, and to his surprise he felt another pair of lips against his own, this time not Ginny’s.

            “That better have been you, Hermione, and not Ron,” he said, opening his eyes and seeing the three people he loved most gathered around his bed.

            They laughed, and Ron put his arm around Hermione.

            “It’s over,” he said with finality, “We’ve got our lives back again, and I reckon we’ve all got each other too.  I know I’m never letting Hermione go.”

            “I’m not letting Ginny go either,” Harry said, reaching across the sheet to grasp her hand.  

            “We’ll let you get back to sleep,” she said.  

            Ron turned off the light and the three of them slipped out of the room.  Harry turned on his side and buried his face in the soft pillow.  They had their lives back again, but what different lives they would be.  There would be grief in the days and weeks ahead as they buried the dead and adjusted to whatever the future would bring.  But with Ginny at his side, with friends like Ron and Hermione, Harry knew that his future had to be bright.   

            


End file.
